Sheriff Jeff Frazier told rrspin.com this morning the grenade was so fragile it needed to be detonated immediately, a task that was done by a bomb squad from Fort Bragg at the Roanoke Rapids firing range.
The items found in the bag are of the Vietnam era or earlier, the sheriff said.
Why the items were abandoned on the side of the road is something the sheriff’s office continues to investigate, Frazier said.
One possibility could be the items were stolen from a house but because the items are illegal for an individual to own, the theft was not reported, the sheriff said.
The canvas bag contained kitchen scales, shotgun shells, a grenade, a forearm to a long barrel firearm and a red smoke canister, Lieutenant Jay Burch said.
With the grenade now exploded, it is safe to keep the rest of the items in the evidence locker at the sheriff’s office. “You can’t store explosives because you have citizens and inmates,” in the same building where evidence is stored, Burch said.
Major Bruce Temple said there is still testing the evidence must go through and Burch said samples will be sent to the State Bureau of Investigation.
While the sheriff’s office praised the youngster for reporting the discovery to an adult, it is best when such items are found to leave them where found and call law enforcement, Burch said.
Moving evidence such as this is not only dangerous, it diminishes law enforcement’s ability to obtain proper measurements and interferes with investigators being able to collect DNA samples, which will be done, Temple said.
That kitchen scales were found in the bag is not necessarily an indication drug dealers had the bag, Temple said. “It could be someone weighing out (gun) powder.”
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